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History Timeline Birmingham

A TIMELINE OF THE HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM

Coat of arms

A medium-sized market town during the medieval period, Birmingham grew to international prominence in the 18th century at the heart of the Midlands Enlightenment and subsequent Industrial Revolution, which saw the town at the forefront of worldwide advances in science, technology and economic development, producing a series of innovations that laid many of the foundations of modern industrial society.

Birmingham as a settlement dates from the Anglo-Saxon era. The city’s name comes from the Old English Beormingahām, meaning the home or settlement of the Beormingas – indicating that Birmingham was established in the 6th or early 7th century as the primary settlement of an Anglian tribal grouping and regio of that name

1166 The king grants the right to hold a weekly market in Birmingham. It becomes a busy little market town.

The charters of 1166 and 1189 that established Birmingham as a market town and seigneurial borough

1250 The people of Birmingham are given the right to hold an annual fair

1380 Birmingham is becoming known for its metalworking industry

1500 Birmingham has a population of about 1,500

1560 The population has risen to around 2,000. There is still a wool industry in Birmingham and a leather industry but metalworking is fast becoming the most important industry.

Aston Hall is a Grade I listed Jacobean house in Aston, Birmingham, England, designed by John Thorpe and built between 1618 and 1635. It is a leading example of the Jacobean prodigy house

1635 Aston Hall is built

1642 Royalists sack Birmingham

1643 Royalists plunder Birmingham again

1650 The population of Birmingham is about 5,000

1695 Birmingham gains its first fire engine

1715 St Phillips Church is built

1720 The population of Birmingham is about 12,000

Birmingham in 1732.

1750 The population of Birmingham is about 24,000

A 250 year old working watermill famous for its association with author J.R.R Tolkien.

1765 Sarehole Mill is built

1769 A canal is built from Wednesbury to Birmingham. A body of men called Street Commissioners are given power to clean and light (with oil lamps) the streets of Birmingham

1779 A General Hospital is built in Birmingham

1801 The population of Birmingham is about 73,000

1818 The streets of Birmingham are lit by gas

Birmingham Botanical Gardens

1832 The botanical gardens open

The first of the monumental town halls that would come to characterise the cities of Victorian England, Birmingham Town Hall was also the first significant work of the 19th century revival of Roman architecture, a style chosen here in the context of the highly charged radicalism of 1830s Birmingham for its republican associations. The design was based on the proportions of the Temple of Castor and Pollux in the Roman Forum.

1834 A new town hall is built in Birmingham

1838 Birmingham is connected to London by railway

1841 St Chad’s Cathedral is built

1850 Winson Green asylum opens

1856 The first public park in Birmingham opens

1861 A by-law says that all new houses in Birmingham must be connected to a sewer

1871-72 There is a smallpox epidemic in Birmingham

The Last Horse Tram at Nechells 1906

1873 Horse drawn trams begin running in Birmingham

1874 Another smallpox epidemic strikes Birmingham

1879 The Council House is built. A telephone exchange opens.

1881 The Council House is built. Rubery Hill asylum opens

1882 Birmingham gains an electricity supply

1883 Smallpox strikes Birmingham again

1889 Birmingham is made a city

The Rotunda is a cylindrical highrise

1890 The first electric trams run in Birmingham

1909 Birmingham University is founded

1929 Fox Hollies Park opens

1938 Queen Elizabeth Hospital opens

World War II More than 2,000 people in Birmingham are killed by German bombing

1954 A survey shows that more than 20% of the homes in Birmingham are unfit for human habitation

1964 The Bull Ring shopping centre opens

The Rotunda is a cylindrical highrise

1965 Birmingham Rotunda opens

1966 Aston University is founded

1987 Pavilions Shopping Centre opens

1991 The International Conference Centre and Indoor Arena opens

1998 Ikon Gallery opens

The Mailbox is Birmingham’s most stylish shopping, lifestyle and restaurant destination, with a variety of exclusive stores and 24 hour parking.

2000 Mailbox Shopping Centre opens

2001 Millennium Point opens

Bull Ring, Birmingham

2003 The Bull Ring redevelopment opens

The Cube is a 25 storey mixed-use development in the centre of Birmingham, England. Designed by Ken Shuttleworth of MAKE Architects, it contains 135 flats, 111,500 square feet of offices, shops, a hotel and a ‘skyline’ restaurant